Desert – Sense Likes

Stepping out onto a Balearic beach, the wind picking up strands of hair, the distant reflection of cream-colored Gothic architecture vibrating in the distance, “Sense Likes” by Desert sounds at first like it has stepped out of a time that vanished decades ago. It’s the kind of dream pop/synth wave that whispers over the distant reaches of the internet, but is rarely found in the places where it was birthed.

It has been many years since Balearic beat was replaced in the islands it was born in. Pounding electronic thumps and Top 40 remixes have long dominated the expensive extensive speaker systems in Ibiza and Palma clubs. The hippie hedonistic paradise that it was once presented no longer exists, but still there remains a dream, a distant call, signaling that it’s out there somewhere. Between history and dream is where “Sense Likes” thrives.

Having a sound that comes from another time but is still constantly searched for works to the benefit of Desert. There is both romance and melancholy to be found within it, a sense of departing and arriving. It exists in a space that is transitional.

Desert is made up of Barcelona-based producers Cristina Checa and Eloi Caballe, and their newest single “Sense Likes” plays with physical sensation and perception. The turquoise waves of far off seas feel as if they are lapping at your toes, grains of sand falling from your just opened palms, but they aren’t there when you open your eyes. It’s this sense of loss that makes the song unique, and who better to make those sounds than two artists from just across the Mediterranean in a city that has also seen its artistic base change with incoming wealth.

“Sense Likes” by Desert creates a feeling that many have thought was lost, but even more are still searching for. It’s a feeling we like and one we wish we hadn’t lost. And after three minutes listening to the track we think, “Maybe we haven’t.”

For its hope created out of wistful memories, we give “Sense Likes” by Desert 91 out of 103 shimmering summer nights on an enchanted beach.